How To Profit By One's Enemies (intro-4)

The essay on turning even one’s enemies to some profitable use was an extempore address which was afterwards reduced to writing. It still retains, however, some of the marks of its extempore character in an occasional asyndeton or anacoluthon, in a few repetitions, and in such little slips as reversing the positions of Domitius and Scaurus (91 d). But minor matters of this sort cannot obscure the excellence of the essay as a whole, which contains much good advice, many wholesome truths, and much common sense. To cite but one example, the statement (91 b) that many things which are necessary in time of war, but bad under other conditions, acquire the sanction of custom and law, and cannot be easily abolished, even though the people are being injured by them, will appeal to everybody except the confirmed militarist. The essay was written some time after the essay entitled Advice to Statesmen, which in turn must be placed shortly after the death of Domitian (a.d. 96).

This is one of the moral essays of Plutarch which so impressed Christians that they were translated into Syriac in the sixth or seventh centuries. The translation of this essay is rather an adaptation, many details being omitted as unessential, but even so it gives light on the Greek text in a few places. The Syriac translation is published in Studia Sinaitica, No. IV (London 1894)

I observe, my dear Cornelius Pulcher,[*] that you have chosen the mildest form of official administration, in which you are as helpful as possible to the public interests while at the same time you show yourself to be very amiable in private to those who have audience with you. Now it may be possible to find a country, in which, as it is recorded of Crete,[*] there are no wild animals, but a government which has not had to bear with envy or jealous rivalry or contention—emotions most productive of enmity—has not hitherto existed. For our very friendships, if nothing else, involve us in enmities. This is what the wise Chilon [*] had in mind, when he asked the man who boasted that he had no enemy whether he had no friend either. Therefore it seems to me to be the duty of a statesman not only to have thoroughly investigated the subject of enemies in general, but also in his reading of Xenophon [*] to have given more than passing attention to the remark that it is a trait of the man of sense to derive profit even from his enemies. Some thoughts, therefore, on this subject, which I recently had occasion to express, I have put together in practically the same words, and now send them to you, with the omission, so far

as possible, of matter contained in my Advice to Statesmen,[*] since I observe that you often have that book close at hand.

Primitive men were quite content if they could escape being injured by strange and fierce animals, and this was the aim and end of their struggles against the wild beasts; but their successors, by learning, as they did, how to make use of them, now profit by them through using their flesh for food, their hair for clothing, their gall and colostrum as medicine, and their skins as armour, so that there is good reason to fear that, if the supply of wild beasts should fail man, his life would become bestial, helpless, and uncivilized.[*] Since, then, it is enough for most people if they can avoid suffering ill-treatment at the hands of their enemies, and since Xenophon [*] asserts that men of sense will even derive profit from those who are at variance with them, we must not refuse him credence, but rather try to discover the system and the art through which this admirable advantage is to be gained by those who find it impossible to live without an enemy.

The farmer cannot domesticate every tree, nor can the huntsman tame every beast; and so they have sought to derive profit from these in ways to meet their other needs: the farmer from the trees that bear no fruit and the huntsman from the Wild animals. The water of the sea is unfit to drink and tastes vile; yet fish thrive in it, and it is a medium for the dispatch and conveyance of travellers everywhere. The Satyr, at his first sight of fire, wished to kiss and embrace it, but Prometheus said,

You, goat, will mourn your vanished beard,[*]

for fire burns him who touches it, yet it furnishes light and heat, and is an instrument of every craft for those who have learned to use it. So look at your enemy, and see whether, in spite of his being in most respects harmful and difficult to manage, he does not in some way or other afford you means of getting hold of him and of using him as you can use no one else, and so can be of profit to you. Many of the circumstances of life are unkindly and hateful and repellent to those who have to meet them; yet you observe that some have employed their attacks of bodily illness for quiet resting, and trials which have fallen to the lot of many have but strengthened and trained them. Some, too, have made banishment and loss of property a means of leisure and philosophic study, as did Diogenes[*] and Crates.[*] And Zeno,[*] on learning that the ship which bore his venture had been wrecked, exclaimed, A real kindness, O Fortune, that thou, too, dost join in driving us to the philosopher’s cloak ! For just as those animals which have the strongest and soundest stomachs can eat and digest snakes and scorpions, and there are some even that derive nourishment from stones and shells (for they transmute such things by reason of the vigour and heat of their spirit), while fastidious and sickly persons are nauseated if they partake of bread and wine, so fools spoil even their friendships, while wise men are able to make a fitting use even of their enmities.

In the first place, then, it seems to me that the most harmful element in enmity may be made most profitable to those who give heed. What is this ? Your enemy, wide awake, is constantly lying in wait to take advantage of your actions, and seeking to gain some hold on you, keeping up a constant patrol about your life; and not only does his sight, like the sight of Lynceus, [*] penetrate the oak-tree and stones and tiles, but your enemy, through every friend and servant and acquaintance as well, so far as possible, plays the detective on your actions and digs his way into your plans and searches them through and through. Oftentimes we do not learn, until too late, of the illness or the death of our friends, so careless are we and neglectful; but our curiosity about our enemies all but prompts us to pry into their dreams; sickness, debts, and conjugal disagreements are more likely to be unknown to the very persons affected than to their enemy. Especially does he try to get hold of their failings and ferret them out. And just as vultures are drawn to the smell of decomposed bodies, but have no power to discover those that are clean and healthy, so the infirmities, meannesses, and untoward experiences of life rouse the energies of the enemy, and it is such things as these that the malevolent pounce upon and seize and tear to pieces. Is this then profitable ? Assuredly it is, to have to live circumspectly, to give heed to one’s self, and not to do or say anything carelessly or inconsiderately, but always to keep one’s life unassailable as though under an exact regimen. For the circumspection which thus represses the emotions and keeps the reasoning power within bounds gives practice and purpose in living a life that

is fair and free from reproach. For just as states which are chastened by border warfare and continual campaigning become well content with good order and a sound government, so persons who have been compelled on account of enmities to practise soberness of living, to guard against indolence and contemptuousness, and to let some good purpose prompt each act, are insensibly led by force of habit to make no mistakes, and are made orderly in their behaviour, even if reason co-operate but slightly. For when men keep always ready in mind the thought that

Priam and Priam’s sons would in truth have cause for rejoicing,[*]

it causes them to face about and turn aside and abandon such things as give their enemies occasion for rejoicing and derision. Furthermore, we observe that the Dionysiac artists[*] often play their parts in the theatres in a listless, dispirited, and inaccurate way when they are by themselves; but when there is rivalry and competition with another company, then they apply not only themselves but their instruments more attentively, picking their strings and tuning them and playing their flutes in more exact harmony. So the man who knows that his enemy is his competitor in life and repute is more heedful of himself, and more circumspect about his actions, and brings his life into a more thorough harmony. For it is a peculiar mark of vice, that we feel more ashamed of our faults before our enemies than before our friends. This is the ground of Nasica’s remark, when some expressed their belief that the power of the Romans was now secure, inasmuch as the Carthaginians had been annihilated and the Achaeans reduced to subjection. Nay, he said, now is our position really dangerous, since we have left for ourselves none to make us either afraid or ashamed.

Moreover, as a supplement to this take the declaration of Diogenes,[*] which is thoroughly philosophic and statesmanlike: How shall I defend myself against my enemy ? By proving yourself good and honourable. Men are much distressed when they see their enemies’ horses winning renown or their dogs gaining approval. At the sight of a well-tilled field or a flourishing garden they groan. What, think you, would be their state of mind if you were to show yourself to be an honest, sensible man and a useful citizen, of high repute in speech, clean in actions, orderly in living,

Reaping the deep-sown furrow of your mind From which all goodly counsels spring? [*]

Pindar [*] says,

The vanquished are bound In the fetters of silence profound,

not absolutely or universally, however, but only those who realize that they are outdone by their enemies in diligence, goodness, magnanimity, kindly deeds, and good works. These are the things which, as Demosthenes [*] puts it, retard the tongue, stop the mouth, constrict the throat, and leave one with nothing to say.

Be thou unlike the base; this thou canst do. [*]

If you wish to distress the man who hates you, do not revile him as lewd, effeminate, licentious, vulgar, [*] or illiberal, but be a man yourself, show self-control, be truthful, and treat with kindness and justice those who have to deal with you. And if you are led into reviling, remove yourself as far as possible from the things for which you revile him. Enter within the portals of your own soul, look about to see if there be any rottenness there, lest some vice lurking somewhere within whisper to you the words of the tragedian:

Wouldst thou heal others, full of sores thyself ? [*]

If you call your enemy uneducated, strive to intensify in yourself the love of learning and industry; if you call him a coward, rouse even more your selfreliance and manliness; if you call him unchaste and licentious, obliterate from your soul whatever trace of devotion to pleasure may be lurking there unperceived. For there is nothing more disgraceful or painful than evil-speaking that recoils upon its author. So reflected light appears to be the more troublesome in cases of weak eyesight, and the same is true of censures that by the truth are brought back upon the very persons who are responsible for them. For as surely the north-east wind [*] brings the clouds, so surely does a bad life bring revilings upon itself.